Brotherly Love: Dru DeShields influenced by brother to play quarterback for West Branch
Dru DeShields did not have to look too far for his quarterback idol.
Dru was a water boy for the West Branch High School football team when older brother T.J. DeShields was its star quarterback.
Young Dru loved watching his brother do his thing on the field. One of his most memorable moments was watching T.J. in an overtime game against Carrollton on Sept. 29, 2017. T.J. threw a game-winning touchdown pass to Kyle Linhart.
Flash forward to today. Dru is now the guy behind center starring for West Branch, but he has his own lane.
“I watched him grow as a player, and I’m really proud of what he is becoming as a football player,” T.J. said. “He is taking his own path. He is not following my footsteps, he is creating his own path.”
Dru is coming off a big junior season and is in the midst of a busy offseason, as he looks to raise his growing recruiting profile.
Dru watched T.J. when he went through this process. T.J. started out at the University of Akron, spent three years with the Zips, and then transferred to Sul Rock State in Alpine, Texas. T.J. played QB there last season and will be a redshirt senior this fall.
Back at West Branch, Dru took over the starting quarterback role in his sophomore season after replacing his injured teammate, Brock Hillyer, to lead West Branch to a 37-20 victory over Carrollton.
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T.J. was at the game when Dru took over at quarterback. Dru was nervous.
T.J., who also started at QB as a sophomore, gave Dru words of encouragement which got him through not only his first game but throughout the season.
“He was at the game and came up to me and just told me to play hard and have fun, and just go out to be yourself,” Dru said. “I kind of loosened up at that point.”
Dru comes from a family of athletes.
His dad, Walt, is a former minor league baseball pitcher and is the girls basketball coach at West Branch. His mom, Penny, played volleyball at Mount Union and is the head volleyball coach and assistant principal at West Branch. Dru is the youngest of three brothers, and has watched his two older brothers play college sports after leaving West Branch. Kip, the oldest, played football for the Warriors but was more of a standout in baseball. He went on to play at Youngstown State and is an assistant baseball coach at Lake Erie College.
Dru knew from an early age that competition runs deep inside the DeShields household.
“Our family is really competitive,” Dru said. “We kind of compete with each other, like on Sundays, we play fantasy football together and it kind of gets hostile sometimes.”
While Dru became the next quarterback in the DeShields family, Dru and T.J. have different styles. T.J. was more of a pocket passer, while Dru is the dual threat, having started his varsity career at wide receiver.
“They both have very strong passing arms and have the ability to keep their eyes downfield and make plays under pressure,” Walt said.”The main difference between the two is that Dru has better running speed than T.J. We compare Dru's style as a quarterback to that of Patrick Mahomes, and T.J. is like Tom Brady, both styles are very different, but highly successful.”
Dru had a breakout season last fall, producing 4,785 yards of total offense (3,659 passing yards and 1,126 rushing yards) and 57 total touchdowns. West Branch went unbeaten during the regular season before their season ended in the regional finals. Dru received his first college offer from Wheeling University, a Division II school located in West Virginia.
For Dru, he feels it’s a momentum boost needed as he enters his senior year at West Branch.
“It feels good to get that one out of the way,” Dru said. “It just kind of came in. They kind of talked to me a little bit and offered me and my offensive lineman, Mitchell Coffee, so that was very nice to meet them and get my first offer.”
He is rated as a two-star according to 247 Sports, three stars according to On3db and is on the USA TODAY Network’s Greater Akron/Canton list of top players in the 2023-25 classes.
Dru is eager for his senior season in hopes of leading West Branch to another run in the playoffs. For now, he has been putting in the work in the weight room, football showcases from campus to campus, and trains with quarterback trainer Brad Maendler. Expectations are at an all-time high. For Dru, he looks to continue to improve day by day.
“My individual goal is to be at least one percent better every day,” Dru said. “Learn something new or like throw the ball differently and get bigger. That’s my goal every day.“
This article originally appeared on The Repository: West Branch QB Dru DeShields learned from watching his brother T.J.
